Avoiding ultra processed foods.

I’m doing the same. Because of trying to reduce my bad cholesterol I’ve been watching a lot of utube podcasts about nutrition ( mainly ZOE ones) and I’ve been watching Tim Spector series on Ch4. I’m going to try his recipe for pasta sauce made with tomatoes, walnuts, broccoli and boullion tonight. I used to avoid fibre due to IBS and had a very limited diet but the podcasts point out that with IBS you need fibre but it has to be added gradually. I’m going to send away fir the ZOE Daily 30 which is expensive but contains lots of the things I’m currently buying.

I’m attempting to eat 30g fibre a day. Found it difficult initially, but lentils, pulses and wholewheat with seeds chai and flax make it much easier.

Also adding probiotics in the form of live yogurts, kefir etc. also fermented foods. Bought a kimchi this week - nearly blew my head off it was so spicy/hot. Can’t waste it so will work out how to eat it and disguise the heat.

Whitewavemark2
Try mixing the kimchi with plain yoghurt, it works for curry so I think it would work for kimchi.

Let’s think of good recipes.

This week we had Smokey bean stew with mashed cauliflower. Find it on the BBC recipes. Delicious.

This weekend is a washout re diet as my birthday, but back to normal on Monday and I have planned
Breakfast - porridge with spoonful of chai seeds and flax served with a desertspoon stewed apple
Lunch - cauliflower soup with whole meal seeded bread / kiwi
Snack - pear/small handful mixed nuts
Dinner vegetarian chilli with beans and lentils - whole meal rice. Greek cultured yogurt, tsp . honey, tbsp. Frozen mixed berries mixed together. Kombucha to drink.

All the recipes can be found on line.

That gives me 31+g fibre and very little processed foods. (Sugar in stewed apple, stock cube in soup and chilli, bread I suppose)

grannydarkhair

Whitewavemark2
Try mixing the kimchi with plain yoghurt, it works for curry so I think it would work for kimchi.

Oh thank you will give it a go on the chilli on Monday. And if the yogurt is cultured then a double whammy☺️ win.win.

I’ve bought several tins of chickpeas but don’t know what to do with them. I’ve been writing down recipes on scraps of paper but when I re read them they don’t make sense. I’ve had lots of recipes pop up on instagram since I’ve been googling recipes.

There are a lot of recipes for chickpeas.

Go into the BBC recipe site. Bung in chickpeas in the search and all the recipes will come up.

I’ll have a look.

Oh yes the last recipe I made which included chickpeas was Moroccan vegetable and chickpea Tagine, which was good, I served it with couscous (which I think must be processed) so perhaps rice next time.

I have 2 lots in the freezer to eat up.

My favourite soup used to be stock, pearl barley, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, parsley, mushrooms and lemon. But I ate it one day when I was coming down with a virus and I can’t disassociate it. Going to give it another go though.

Take a look at root veg. There are so many things you can do with them.

Maybe use quinoa rather than cous cous?
Its just minimally processed

One thing I do with chick peas is make a vegan sandwich filling. After rinsing and drying I use a potato masher to crush the peas until I have a rough paste. Add a teaspoon of vegan mayo, a spoonful of mustard: I use wholegrain. Then I add in combinations of chopped spring onion, chopped sundried tomatoes and chopped kalamata olives. I sprinkle some dried seaweed ( as a longstanding vegetarian you pick up things like this) and season with salt and pepper and add fresh lemon juice. I make wraps, using home made hummus as a base. Sandwiches are also an option.
Chick peas are an integral part of my diet: I use two to three jars a week.Their versatility and nutrition means they never get boring. To me at least!

I recently g oogled 300 healthiest foods.

May give you some ideas.

OP said not keen on pulses

I’ve been buying a lot of Biona foodstuffs recently.

Tbh I would struggle if I didn’t eat pulses to make up the daily fibre. Perhaps the OP has other ideas about fibre which I would be pleased to read☺️.

Just popped up on the tv. The Fibre Factor on BBC Sounds. Going to listen to it now….

I like Tim Spector and I'm sure Zoe is great system but he always looks so unwell, pale and underfed looking!

MayBee70
It’s only non soluble fibre that irritates IBS.

MayBee70

I’ve bought several tins of chickpeas but don’t know what to do with them. I’ve been writing down recipes on scraps of paper but when I re read them they don’t make sense. I’ve had lots of recipes pop up on instagram since I’ve been googling recipes.

I used to eat chickpea curry and also a dhal before I had acid reflux. Sadly, can't eat any of that now.

petra

MayBee70
It’s only non soluble fibre that irritates IBS.

Not always the case. IBS affects different people in different ways, and it's often a case of trial and error to find out what affects you personally. I'd be in agony for days if I ate half the stuff mentioned here.

Whitewavemark2

Tbh I would struggle if I didn’t eat pulses to make up the daily fibre. Perhaps the OP has other ideas about fibre which I would be pleased to read☺️.

I have colitis and remains of old bleeding piles, so to ease things I take psyllium husk powder every day, amounting to 11 gm of fibre, which helps towards my total.
I do eat some pulses, like lentils whizzed in soups but not keen on the texture of whole beans.

OP It’s hard if you don’t eat any herbs or spices as the reality is they make a lot of healthy food more palatable.

Try making some good dressings, white balsamic vinegar, oil, mustard honey and seasoning is a really light and tasty dressing.
You can also make yoghurt based dressings, if you can tolerate mint then a yoghurt and mint dressing is delicious.

A good homemade pesto is easy and can add interest to bland dishes, if you have a food processor then walnuts, spinach, oil and Parmesan make a really easy pesto.
It will freeze or live in the fridge for a week or so, delicious on chicken and fish.

Bulgar wheat and couscous are a good base instead of potato and rice and work well with roasted vegetables.
Bulgar can also be used in risotto.

A wholemeal tortilla wrap in a good oven pan topped with, eggs, cheese, tomatoes etc then baked in the oven makes a fabulous frittata type lunch.

Poke bowls are a favourite of mine, lots of ideas on line but a few chickpeas, finely chopped salad ingredients, hummus, raw veg, avocado and a lovely dressing topped with chicken, fish, grilled aubergine and a sprinkle of seeds.

I make sourdough and love it topped with plain grilled tomatoes, devilled mushrooms or beans (homemade baked beans are easy)

Regarding the poster with lots of chickpeas, they purée well into soup.
I made a big batch of Moroccan carrot and chickpea soup last week it was really hearty.

Keep it up you will feel the benefits, honestly what a bit of junk food does to my husbands gut is dreadful, a packet of cheddars🤮and a Cooplands bacon butty and he’s moaning for 48hours!
I have encouraged him to keep a food diary and it’s beginning to dawn on him.

I eat white fish with parsley sauce and veg. Pudding is always a mixture of fruit with cream.

I also make linguine with tomatoes, garlic and mushrooms. You can leave out the garlic if you want.

Breakfast is sometimes pancakes filled with bolognese. Or poached eggs on toast, or sometimes on toasted muffins.

I made my own wholemeal bread in my bread maker, which is quick and easy to do.